Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain India hadHarmanpreet Kaur's captaincy began with a final and ended with one. In 2012, with Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami unavailable, Harmanpreet was handed the captaincy as a stand-in for the T20 Asia Cup final against Pakistan.
Fourteen years later, her final match in charge was another final - India's 147-run win over Sri Lanka in the Asian Games gold-medal match. In between came 211 matches as captain, 126 wins, eight title or gold-medal finishes, India's first women's ODI World Cup triumph and the most T20I captaincy appearances in international cricket.
Her leadership spanned 5074 days, beginning with that stand-in appearance in 2012 and ending with Asian Games gold in 2026. 7% win rate across formats.
The 37-year-old took the reins in the shortest format full-time in 2016. After Mithali Raj's departure from international cricket in 2022, Harmanpreet became India's full-time ODI and Test captain as well.
She became the first captain, male or female, to reach 150 T20Is, finishing with 155. Harmanpreet Kaur's captaincy by numbersThe Questions Around Harmanpreet Kaur’s CaptaincyIn February 2020, after India lost the tri-series final to Australia from a strong position, former captain Diana Edulji suggested Harmanpreet should give up the captaincy and concentrate on her natural game.
A month later, after India's defeat to Australia in the 2020 T20 World Cup final, former captain Shantha Rangaswamy also questioned whether Harmanpreet should continue as T20I captain. The debate returned in 2024.
India failed to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time during Harmanpreet's tenure. Mithali Raj said that if a leadership change was going to be made, that was the time to do it.
Then India won the 2025 ODI World Cup under Harmanpreet. Days after the World Cup triumph, calls for a captaincy change only intensified.
With The Bat: 1,804 ODI Runs At 44One recurring question about Harmanpreet was whether captaincy was affecting her batting. Her ODI numbers as captain offer a different picture.
00, with four hundreds and 10 fifties. 2 in the non-captaincy sample.
Her highest score as captain was 143 not out against England at Canterbury in 2022. Harmanpreet Kaur’s batting recordThe ball-by-ball sample also shows a clear difference based on India's result.
